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The X-Files Season 7 Episode 22

Requiem

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AIRED: 5/21/00

Mulder and Scully return to the town of their first X-Files investigation where a UFO has crashed in the forest. CSM arranges for Krycek to be released from prison in order for him to make contact with the aliens and begin rebuilding the 'Project', while Scully's health appears to be taking a turn.moreless

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Fan Episode Reviews (18)

Requiem

10

By TrueTvWatcher, Sep 08, 2012

Requiem was a perfect and extremely entertaining episode of The X-Files. I really enjoyed watching because there was a lot of significant character and plot development along with action, drama and intrigue. I liked how The X-Files were being scrutinized for spending within the F.B.I. and it was cool to watch Mulder be defensive about the matter. It was interesting to see the CSM using Krycek to do his work for him and I liked how Mulder and Skinner were together in the woods looking for the U.F.O. and Skinner saw and became a believer. It was sort of magical watching Mulder join the others and be taken. I believe this is Mulder's exit from the series and it was satisfactory because I may not know for sure, but the character does and I'm glad for it. I look forward to watching the next episode and how the series progresses!!!!!!!!!moreless
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Mulder and Scully head back to the area where their first X-File took place.

9.0

By JaCkKbAuEr2424, Jun 12, 2011

Season seven comes to an end with a powerhouse of an episode that somehow takes three or four different plot points and crams them into one forty minute episode. Perhaps this is why the episode felt so rushed at times, especially near the end, but for the most part, I was surprised at how well everything worked out. And I have to say, looking back on seven seasons worth of cliffhangers and season finales, this might be one of my favorites. Never was I left on such an uncertain and strange feeling heading into the next season. Of course, my older friends and my parents, who all were fans of the show during its original airing, have told me time and time again that seasons eight and nine are horrific, I'm willing to give the show a chance heading into it.

The episode takes us back to where Mulder and Scully had their first case together: the town in Oregon. There's a lot of references to characters who were apparently important in the series premiere, which is unfortunate because it's been more than a year since I've watched the Pilot and I don't remember any of these people, even though Mulder and Scully act as if it happened yesterday. Anyways, as it turns out, a number of suspected abductees are disappearing again in the same general area that Mulder and Scully investigated seven years ago. Mulder believes that people who were abducted are being abducted again, which means that he's worried for Scully's well-being. Scully spends most of the episode suffering from an unknown illness that leaves her weak, dizzy and light-headed.

Besides Mulder and Scully, there's a lot going on still. Krycek returns from a prison (when in the world did he go to prison?!) and Laurie Holden returns as Marita (seriously, where did she even come from?). As it turns out, the Cigarette Smoking Man is still alive, but barely. He's resorted to smoking cigarettes from a hole in his throat and delivering orders that Krycek doesn't even take seriously anymore. It turns out that there's a UFO hidden by an energy field in Oregon and Mulder is dangerously close to finding it. As it turns out, the people disappearing aren't people who have been abducted but instead new abductees. Krycek and Marita attempt to get to the UFO before it flies away.

We're left on such a strange spot heading into Season 8. I've heard, via different sources, that Season 7 was possibly going to be the last season because of Duchovney's lawsuit against the channel and the fact that it had been on for seven years. That's why so many of the cliffhangers seem to come out of left field and in the last five minutes. For instance, Krycek throws the Cigarette Smoking Man down a flight of stairs, where he lays presumably dead. We're never given any information about his well-being. Mulder finds the UFO and walks into the energy field, where he finds a number of people about to be abducted. He goes up into the UFO with them and disappears, leaving Skinner wondering where he went. Meanwhile, Scully, who was told back in Season 5 that she couldn't have kids anymore, ends up being pregnant. By who? We don't find out. The cut to black and credits is so abrupt that we're left wondering if we watched a series finale or a season finale.

There was a lot in the episode that didn't necessarily work, mainly the sudden reappearance of Krycek, who seems to only show up when the writers need a villainous character, and Marita, who Laurie Holden plays well but the writers have not done nearly enough with to warrant her having a large role. However, story-wise, I was pleased with the way Chris Carter left everything. Things have never seemed so mysterious heading into a new season as they have now. And I'm excited to see how they resolve it all.moreless
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The beginning of a new, dark direction for the series.

9.0

By rhcp199, Mar 04, 2011

*spoiler alert*

After a few light-hearted episodes (Hollywood A.D, Je Souhaite) and the silly but unfortunate "Fight Club", we are offered "Requiem", which was a huge pivotal point in the story arch which stretched throughout the entire series.

Mulder and Scully find themselves (amidst another ball busting effort by their FBI superiors) sent back to Oregon to investigate the dissapearence of a local sheriff. As they return (to the same city they visited way back in the season 1 pilot episode), they realize that something is wrong although they can't seem to pinpoint what.

This show also marks yet another return of the shape-shifting bounty hunter as it is revealed he is moving between locations, covering up evidence that could ultimately prove his species' existence.

What I like about this episode is that although there is not much action, we realize by the end of the episode that the classic "Mulder and Scully team" era is all but over. I'm not just talking about Mulder being abuducted, either. I'm referring to the heart wrenching scenes where you can see Scully's pain only to have Mulder confirm that the personal cost "is just too high". Gillian Anderson did a brilliant job in this episode portraying Scully who is just completely worn out and you really can't help but feel sorry for her and all the things that her job has cost her over the years. Furthermore, if you watched the season 7 episode "all things" you know that she has now come to accept her chosen path and deal with the consequences from it, only to have Mulder turn around and tell her that their journey has basically come to an end.

Either way, this episode really sunk in with me, made me realize that X-Files (though seasons 8 and 9 are still good) would never be the same again. Thankfully I didn't watch this series when it first aired on TV, I became a fan years after it was cancelled and bought all the DVDs. Otherwise I would have had to wait 6 months after an episode like this and I just don't think I would have been able to handle it!moreless
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Too many emotions for our favorite couple

9.0

By OnePerCentClub, Mar 04, 2011

Well, this was season 7 finale and supposedly the last episode of the series. However, there was something that bothered me.

So Mulder and Scully are being audited, they're being asked questions about their 7 years of work in the X-files and they can't actually prove anything because of the lack of evidence. I see Mulder a little bit tired of working. He found the X-files by accident and then he began working on them hoping to find his sister. But Samantha's case is over, he had already found out what happened to her, so now, what's left for him to do? The question is, does he really want to go on investigating the existence of extraterrestrials after all these years?

Apparently, yes. Yet, he's worried for Scully. They go back to the place of their first case. Scully begins to feel sick and I think Mulder thought that the cancer had come back. That scene in the motel room was very sweet and something for all us shippers, my favorite scene from the episode. Mulder comforting Scully, keeping her warm and telling her to forget the whole thing, that he's worried for her health and realizing how much she wanted to be a mother only proves my theory that there had been something going on between these two for a while. When you think it was all over Krycek and Marita, fully recovered, come back to Mulder and tell him that Cancer Man is back and about to make his final move. Mulder decides to go back to Oregon and protects Scully by not letting her go with him. So this is what bothered me. Mulder is in the woods and notices the ship is there. And I think he just lets go, he steps into the circle knowing his fate and is abducted. We all know that his family was dead, that he was the only one left and it's a tragedy. But what about Scully? She was waiting for him back in D.C. She had given up so much for him and at least he owed her a little bit of peacefulness. Now Scully is pregnant and yes, she "has" to find Mulder, because after all, I think he was the father.

I would've liked to see more M&S moments. They had such a wonderful relationship but under normal circumstances a little bit more of intimacy, caresses and hugs were necessary. They had so many opportunities to make them happen and they were left in the air. I wished the writers had made Mulder show a little more concern for Scully. Who could forget how angry and hurt he was when she was in the hospital and the beginning of season 5?

I think that maybe the producers and writers could've used Duchovny's episodes to have him by Scully's side, taking care of her and her pregnancy, instead of those flashbacks of him in the spaceship.

LGmoreless
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The best of the mythology since the movie.

9.0

By Uncle_SaltyJT, Apr 27, 2010

The X-Files gets new life in "Requiem." Having spent the last third of season 7 exploring character development, the mythology springs forward and begins to take unexpected turns for the first time since "The End." The final third of Season 7 finally brought the characters to a level of development that should have been explored very soon after the movie. Scully is not only ready to believe but she is ready to express this to people other than Mulder. Mulder has grown to care about people other than himself. At the end of the movie, he wanted Scully to leave so that he wouldn't be responsible for any further sacrifice of hers for his quest. In "Requiem" he echoes these feelings by making Scully stay in D.C. while he returns to the crash site with Skinner. Scully's desire to be a mother seemed a bit forced but this is not because it is inconsistent but because it had been unexplored for a long time. The real heart of the episode is that we get a big helping of mythology. Since "One Son" Mulder and Scully are essentially as informed about the colonization plans as the Syndicate was. Here, they demonstrate this knowledge while investigating the Deputy's disappearance. This X-file is relatively easy to solve since it relates to elements of alien colonization that they are very familiar with. What is not yet revealed is why these people are being taken. Mulder comments very ominously that these abductees are "not coming back." Thus, the audience understands that these abductions are different than what has happened in the past. The audience also hears this comment echo in their mind when Mulder is taken. Krycek and Marita's introduction loosely references an episode that never occurred. Allegedly a Krycek episode was to be filmed in the place of "Hungry" to give DD & GA time off but Nic Lea was unavailable. The episode would have ended with Krycek attempting to sell either the alien artifact or the purity vaccine to a Russian consortium seen before in "Terma." That episode was also to have given an explanation for the disappearance of the rebels, which was never provided on the show. Supposedly, the rebels, in their process of destroying the Syndicate's plans, got access to the alien fetus and, more importantly, all the research on purity, including the vaccine. So they no longer cared whether the aliens colonized Earth, they had what they wanted. In any event, CSM's comments to Krycek and Marita do confirm that colonization is still to take place. Like the rebels, Krycek has possession of the vaccine and no longer cares whether colonization occurs. So he sends Mulder off to what he believes his death and then he throws CSM down some stairs. Krycek may still want to prevent colonization, but if he does, it is not by the same means that the Syndicate originally used. Krycek may only act altruistically if the solution is much easier and less risky. And he has now become the central villain of the show. Mulder and Scully's interaction in this episode is a continuation of that witnessed in "Hollywood A.D." and "Je Souhaite" and it confirms that they consummated their relationship in "all things." Whether Scully's pregnancy is a result of that consummation or of something involving her implant that occurred in "En Ami" or something else entirely remains to be seen. It did, however, provide a huge surprise to an already spectacular cliffhanger and season finale. Mulder's abduction was the other half of the cliffhanger. This scene also included a very compelling image of Skinner's face as all his beliefs are shot but his quiet belief in Mulder is confirmed. His final scene with Scully is almost heartbreaking as he tries not to break down while he tells her the news. Overall, this is supremely competent story-telling and very evocative. True to Carter's strengths, it provides many "cool" moments but here they are also necessary to the story.moreless
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Cast & Crew: STARS

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David Duchovny	Special Agent Fox Mulder
Gillian Anderson	Special Agent Dana Scully

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Cast & Crew: RECURRING AND GUESTS

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Peter MacDissi	Prison Guard	Guest Star
Grace deMontesquiou	Baby	Guest Star
Kelly deMontesquiou	Baby	Guest Star
William B. Davis	Cigarette Smoking Man	Recurring Role
Nicholas Lea	Alex Krycek	Recurring Role
Mitch Pileggi	Assistant Director Walter Skinner	Recurring Role

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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TRIVIA (2)
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- Once again we hear a dial tone when someone is talking on a cell phone. When CSM hangs up after talking to Krychek, we see Krychek holding his cell phone and we hear a dial tone.
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- At the beginning, when the sheriff hits the deputy's car and sees him with his eyes all burned, he turns to see the bounty hunter version of the deputy and he has three or four dripping green bullet wounds. Yet the sheriff just stands there staring at him for quite some time, looking perplexed. As far as the X-Files lore goes, the gas from the blood attacks people's eyes almost immediately. Why does it take so long with him?
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QUOTES (12)
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- Scully: So much of the work that we do cannot be measured in standard terms.
  Special Agent Short: How would you measure it?
  Scully: We open doors with the X-Files, which lead to other doors.
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- Covarrubias: Your release has been arranged.
  Krycek: Marita Covarrubias. The last time I saw you, I left you for dead.
  Covarrubias: Alex, if it was strictly up to me, I'd leave you here to rot, too.
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- Scully: Mulder, if any of this is true...
  Mulder: If it is, or if it isn't, I want you to forget about it, Scully.
  Scully: Forget about it?
  Mulder: You're not going back out there. I'm not going to let you go back out there.
  Scully: What are you talking about?
  Mulder: It has to end some time. That time is now.
  Scully: Mulder...
  Mulder: Scully, you have to understand that they're taking abductees. You're an abductee. I'm not going to risk... losing you.
  Scully: I won't let you go alone.
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- Special Agent Short: Bringing us to the point. If you spend so much time and money looking for aliens, responsibly, you should narrow your search.
  Mulder: To where?
  Special Agent Short: Wherever they are. It's not unreasonable. It's just a matter of reducing your vision.
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- Skinner: Agent Mulder.
  Mulder: What's our punishment this time? Thumbscrews or 40 lashes? Come on in, Walter. Sit a spell. This could be the last time you take a trip down to these offices.
  Skinner: You went to Oregon.
  Mulder: Guilty as charged. And if they're coming down on you for that, then I'm sorry. I truly am.
  Skinner: Fortunately, they think that I make a contribution to the Bureau.
  Mulder: Oh well yeah, stick to a budget they say your making a contribution, but push the limits of your profession, and they say you're out of control.
  Skinner: You could bring home a flying saucer and have an alien shake hands with the President... what it comes down to Agent Mulder is... they don't like you.
  Mulder: Well, we didn't bring home a flying saucer... or an alien.
  Skinner: Yeah... so I've been told.
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- Special Agent Short: Lariat car rentals. Totals. (He whistles) Would you like to see the figure?
  Mulder: Is that a lot?
  Special Agent Short: A lot? Gas, expenses... the motel rooms alone. By FBI standards these numbers are out of control.
  Mulder: We could start sharing rooms.
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- Mulder: More alien abductions, Scully.
  Scully: I don't know how we could possibly justify the expense.
  Mulder: We'd probably turn up nothing.
  Scully: Let's go waste some money.
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- Nurse Greta: What are you doing?
  Krycek: Sending the Devil back to Hell.
  Cigarette Smoking Man: As you do to Mulder and to me... you do to all of mankind, Alex.
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- Scully: Sir, um... there's something else I need to tell you. Something that I need for you to keep to yourself. I'm having a hard time explaining it. Or believing it. But, um... I'm pregnant.
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- Krycek: I want to damn the soul of that Cigarette Smoking Son-of-a-Bitch.
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- Mulder: I think I'm in big trouble.
  Scully: Oh, Mulder, how many times have they tried to shut us down?
  Mulder: Yeah, but I never actually assaulted an auditor before.
  Scully: Did you hurt him?
  Mulder: I reduced his vision a little bit.
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- Mulder: It's not worth it, Scully.
  Scully: What?
  Mulder: I want you to go home.
  Scully: Oh, Mulder, I'm going to be fine.
  Mulder: No, I've been thinking about it. Looking at you tonight, holding that baby ... knowing everything that's been taken away from you. A chance for motherhood and your health and that baby. I think that ... I don't know, maybe they're right.
  Scully: Who's right?
  Mulder: The FBI. Maybe what they say is true, though for all the wrong reasons. It's the personal costs that are too high. There so much more you need to do with your life. There's so much more than this. (whispering) There has to be an end, Scully.
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NOTES (5)
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- The FBI agent states that Mulder and Scully have 160 cases investigated, the same number of episodes done to that point. Of course this could be said to be incorrect, because of the 2 and 3 parters, but it's a nice wink to the audience
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- Three deleted scenes in this episode include an extended scene where Mulder and Scully arrive at Oregon for the first time after 7 years, an extended scene where Scully is questioned by the FBI agent, and an extended version of Marita Covarrubias' conversation with Kryceck
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- In Chris Carter's original script, there was no revelation about Scully's pregnancy. Instead it has Mulder lying on a table aboard the alien ship and his father coming to him and comforting him.
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- A 'requiem' is a mass for a deceased person, or a musical composition for such a mass. It is a hymn, composition, or service for commemorating the dead.
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- Mulder and Scully recognise the X that Mulder painted on the road after experiencing 'missing time' in the pilot episode. It's hard to believe that normal spray paint would last for seven years, given road usage and the weather.
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ALLUSIONS (1)
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- Mulder: It's like deja vu all over again.
  
  One of NY Yankees baseball star Yogi Berra's most famous quotes. Mulder says this whilst standing by the same red cross in the road that he had marked up in the pilot episode 7 years previously.
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